


Big Man, Small Dog

by xyma



Series: Kuro the Therapy Dog [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Artist Keith (Voltron), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Shiro (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Shiro (Voltron)-centric, Shiro adopts a Therapy Dog, Short One Shot, Small Dog, Writer Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 19:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14408535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xyma/pseuds/xyma
Summary: When Allura suggests to get a therapy dog, Shiro takes a few weeks to consider it. He finally gives in after the flood of therapy dog-related articles, suggestions, and prolonged hours imagining how great it would actually be to always have a companion around while Keith's away for his artist work, and for him, it's been one the best decisions he's made in a while.Oh, but Keith doesn't know what he's about to come home to, so he's going to be in for a surprise.





	Big Man, Small Dog

The alarm blares through the space of his bedroom, filtering out the starting verses of Staying Alive at maximum volume. Shiro groans in protest and buries his head further into his pillow and his body under the large, fluffy comforter, a gift from Allura. He’d much rather stay in bed today, considering that it was his first day without worry of a deadline in a long time. Contrary to the popular belief, he is not a morning person. If there’s no need to be up, then there is simply no need to be up. There’s a difference.

A small rustling catches his attention and he smiles in the midst of his drowsy state. Before he knows it, a small furry body whose tail-wagging includes their entire hand-sized body moving along with it, sneaks herself under his arm and up to his neck. Shiro laughs softly, not finding it in himself to be even a little annoyed with the little creature making herself known and urging him to wake up.

“Good morning, baby.” He murmurs, before carefully running his fingers through her fur. She yips softly in response and lies down right under Shiro’s chin, rubbing her little head against him.

He’s overwhelmed with the fondness. When he closes his eyes to go back to sleep, the small ball of sunshine is having none of it. She starts licking his face and even up his nose. Shiro jerks his head back to steer his nostrils clear of the assault.

“Okay, okay, I’m up.” He groans out, knowing that it’s her job and she won’t stop until she’s accomplished it. The fact that it reminds him of a certain somebody makes him smile again. He slowly gets up from the bed and yawns, ruffling his tuft of hair before smoothing it back and sighing as his eyes adjust to the morning sun. He looks down and sees the small dog - a Yorkshire Terrier he’s named Kuro for her dominantly black fur - sitting obediently right in front of him. Her tail still wagging with her mouth open, tongue hanging off in pure joy and expectation. After a beat, she nudges against the hand he rested on the bed. 

“Yeah, you’re right. We need to eat.” He checks the time and finds that he has more than enough to make himself a good breakfast before taking his daily medication. Pushing himself off from the bed, Kuro follows him from behind, her small paws pattering against the wooden floor as Shiro practically drags himself to the kitchen.

Shiro presses his foot on a pedal, dispensing an exact amount of food to Kuro’s food bowl. He watches her for a few seconds before moving on to deal with his own side of breakfast. Humming while picking out the ingredients for some well-deserved bacon and eggs, he hears the doorbell ring just as he cracks an egg open onto the pan. He lowers the heat, shouting a “I’m coming!” before heading over to the door and unlocking it. 

Keith stands there with a duffel bag in tow with one of the worst cases of bed hair he could possibly imagine, and Shiro smiles because Keith Kogane can have gone through weeks without a shower and Shiro would still kiss him like it’s no problem. He hasn’t seen him in two weeks, because Keith’s job involving painting artworks as tall as three Shiros with impossible deadlines he has to make possible makes things a lot harder than they should be. He can tell that Keith did his best to get there in time for Shiro’s days free, in the way he can still see remnants of vibrant paint on Keith’s face and hair, and especially caked under his fingernails. He leans in and presses a kiss to his lips.

“Welcome home, baby.” He whispers, and Keith practically melts in the touch, dropping his bag to step into his embrace and hug him around his neck. “Have you seen my messages?”

“Not yet.” The artist replies, sleepily and kisses Shiro again, wanting for it to go deeper. The taller of the two obliges and lets him take the lead, regardless of how slow and steady. Keith must be sleep-deprived. 

But that means…

_Yip!_

“What the fuck?!” Keith lets out in surprise, practically jumping out of Shiro’s arms in response to the high pitch sound. His eyes quickly dart towards it and he makes eye contact with the small ball of fur, who is currently with its tongue hanging out again and body wagging beside Shiro’s foot. The silence stretches for what could be hours.

“That…” Keith slowly drawls out, his hand raising to point at it. 

“A dog. I got a therapy dog… a week ago.” Shiro replies, a bit hurriedly. This would’ve been a lot easier if Keith read his messages. 

The artist stares again, leaving Shiro time to pick up the small sunshine with like, half of his hand. The blinking hasn’t stopped. But his eyes soften a bit when it sinks in and he sees how Shiro’s already grown accustomed to the small ball of fur, with its small tongue lapping at his fingers and his boyfriend smiling down at it. 

“That’s… Wow, that’s so great.” Keith breathes out. 

“I’m sorry, I should’ve waited for you come back, but---” 

He steps in to stop him, placing a hand on his arm and giving it a light squeeze. “-- Don’t! Worry. … What matters is that they make you feel happy and safe.” 

“.... Her. And her name’s Kuro.” 

There is a pause, then Shiro’s face falls into a smile so fond, and he swears he loves Keith more than usual if that was even possible. The moment is broken when Shiro remembers the egg he left on the pan, eyes widening and shrugging on Keith’s bag, pulling the younger of the two by the arm inside. The artist lets him bring him in, eyeing the ball of fur in Shiro’s hand still. He may not be all that used to dogs in his life, but he doesn’t mind if it’s for Shiro. 

The writer puts down both man and dog on their living room couch, and Keith takes that moment to acknowledge Kuro, from the other side. There’s some sort of a silent exchange between the two species, it seems, since Keith nods. He fishes out his phone from his back pocket and starts searching “how to befriend a dog”. He clicks the first link from wiki how then exchanges his attention between his phone and Kuro. 

Moving closer slowly, he stretches out his arm and presents his hand palm-up to the dog, and it stays there for a beat, before Kuro gets up from her small hind legs and rests her front paws on his palm, licking it. Keith’s heart does a squeeze and his eyes sparkle from the intense cuteness of it. 

“I’m Keith.” He says without a thought. 

“I’m sure she knows.” Shiro says, placing down the utensils on the table while chuckling at the scene before him. He prepared more eggs and bacon, considering Keith arrived, and the artist lets the dog’s paws down before getting up and giving his boyfriend a kiss. 

“Let me just change. I don’t think I want to eat without bathing.” He says, kissing him one time before pulling away and heading for their shared bedroom. 

Shiro watches him go, and looks towards his therapy dog when he’s out of sight. Stepping closer, he gives her the petting she deserves and a kiss on the top of her furry head with a grin on his face. 

“This is a good start.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic series is dedicated to my own dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Suki! She isn't old enough to be a therapy dog (currently 7 months, minimum req is 1 yr), but she's been doing more than a great job at it thus far! I've been having some episodes lately this week from the pressure of choosing a college from my parents, and she's been there for me through thick and thin, once even literally licking the tears off my face! I love her so much!!
> 
> Check out [my tweet](https://twitter.com/xymaaaa/status/988359601132204033) of my Suki baby! I hope you'll love her too!!


End file.
